Do verso : aproximações (arte verbal infantil)

Abstract

Based on the hypothesis of Paul Fraisse that artists are limited «by the perspective and motive possibilities of man», the author of this article analyses the basic forms of juvenile oral literature - lullabies, tongue twisters and stereotype formulae, which were collected either directly or indirectly in Portugal - in an attempt to find governing models of the various categories of peninsular versification. This article is therefore not merely a pure analysis of rhythm, but through that tradition which permits one to demonstrate the metamorphosis of contemporary orality, opens up the possibilities of that which can be rhymed.